NASHIK: The district administration has laid down the standard operating procedure (SOP) for opening of religious places across the district from Monday and the religious heads have appealed to the people to follow the norms in order to contain of the spread of Covid-19.
The district administration on Sunday announced the SOP for the temples, masjid, churches, gurdwaras that have been allowed to open their doors to the the people from Monday by the state government so that people can visit their religious places to offer prayers.
The SOP mainly includes allowing limited number of people into the religious places besides ensuring the physical distancing between the people, use of sanitizers and use of the masks as the main precautions to cut down the spread of the disease.
The religious heads have asked the community members and even the the members of the organising committees to ensure all the the directions issued by the state government were followed in totality.
“We have ensured that no person without mask will be allowed to enter church for offering his prayers and at the same time the entry will be regulated to 50% capacity. The additional number of the people will have to wait for their turn and at the same time prayers will be telecasted on screens so that the people outside can see the happenings inside the church,” Vency D’mello, priest in-charge of Holy Cross Church Nashik, said.
There are 13 catholic churches across Nashik district six of which are in Nashik city and there are 80 protestant churches across the district 20 of which are in Nashik city.
Maulana Mufti Mohammed Ismail, who heads the Muslim community in Malegaon and also the member of the legislative assembly, pointed out that the the religious places will be sanitized after every prayer so that chances of people contracting the disease is diminished. “At the same time, we will ensure that the people do not overcrowd and they will asked to wait for their turns,” he said.